In many applications, it is desirable to control the air pressure within a space such as in so called &lt;&lt;clean rooms&gt;&gt; used in laboratories, biotech, biomedical, hospital, cosmetic, food processing, research center, semiconductor industries, etc . . . . For instance, pharmaceutical installations that produce medicinal tablets are required by regulation to confine the tablet manufacturing equipment within a closed space and provide an air filtration system capable of establishing in the closed space negative air pressure in the space such that when an access door is opened airborne particulate matter will have a tendency to remain in the space.
Traditional air filtration systems have drawbacks. Perhaps, the most acute one is the inability of the system to react rapidly enough to air pressure variations in the space (occurring when a door is opened) to stabilize the air pressure to its nominal value. This slow response time is the result of the strategy employed to regulate the air pressure. More particularly, prior art air filtration systems rely on electric actuators to alter air flow in order to provide the pressure control function. Such electric actuators, are usually slow to react which translates into a lengthy response time for the overall system.
Therefore there exists a need in the industry to provide novel system and components that alleviate the disadvantages of prior art air filtration systems.